Arigatou: One Answer
by Sincerely-Vixen
Summary: Every answer comes at a price. My answers come at the price of your life. InuXKag.


Arigatou: One answer

One-Shot

Vixen-Virus

Rating: M- Mature situations.

Genre: Romance/Drama/Tragedy.

Summary: Every answer comes at a price. My answers come at the price of your life. InuXKag.

Extras: I swear to you guys you'll enjoy this! Well at least I hope so, even if you're a Kikyo hater, so please carry on! =)

* * *

_Arigatou: One Answer_

**I** am Kikyo.

I am a killer.

I am also, a savoir.

How so? That's an easy question. I may be a 'cold blooded killer' but that is only skin deep. Ignorant people believe I kill because I am mentally insane. Ignorant people believe that I kill for no reason. Ignorant people are just….ignorant. I have rules. Rules I follow distinctly. Rules that bound my life and bound my actions. I never go back on my rules.

Ever.

The rules are simple.

_1. My clients come to me._

How?

Well if you need to know how, you aren't _meant_ to know. If they need to see me, they'll find a way to contact me. Only those worthy of answers will find me.

_2. After my clients come to me, they have one chance to ask only one question._

And the price of the answer?

Their lives.

_3. In return for answering their question I shoot them in the head, and no where else._

Because the head holds the brain and the brain holds the knowledge. I only shoot once. Never twice. Only one bullet per body, and I never miss. You wonder who is stupid enough to die for just one question?

_Everyone is._

Now, when I started this little…_game_, of mine, I was thought of as a joke. I was a 'con artist' and no one believed me. I smile softly as I twirl my gun within my hand and lean back against the old wooden chair, watching the clock tick away and the day fade to night.

* * *

"_Heh, so you think you're tough shit, Kikyo?" The older man asked, his hands clasped together as he sat behind his desk, in a black dress shirt and dress pants. I stood tall, never letting any emotion cross my face as I gave him a curt nod. The men around him burst into laughter._

"_So, for a question, you get my life?" A sly smirk crossed his lips. I merely narrowed my eyes and nodded my head. He leaned back in his chair; I still could not see his face as the shadows danced around._

_The men around him whispering jokes and taunts, but I stood still, waiting for him to dare ask anything. I would bring this man down._

"_Then, my dear…What is the meaning of life?" He smirked and I felt a smirk appear on my face. The men snickered around me as I spun and turned my back on him, my long black tresses swirling in a circle around me._

"_That's what I thought…" His voice echoed off the walls._

_---2 weeks later---_

_I waited silently behind his door, waiting until his assistants left. I watched with calculated eyes as the older men turned and walked out the entrance door. I caught a glimpse of his eyes, though he could not see mine. I waited with baited breath, for the moment he would enter his bedroom._

_Hours flew by before he entered the room in nothing but a sleeping robe, I waited until his back was turned before I darted forward with a speed only known to a beast, my arm around his neck and my right hand with my silver Taurus hand gun pointed at his temple, an audible click sounding in the air._

_Time stood still for only a moment as he registered what was happening. I kept my grip tight, my gun aimed right at his temple, one slip of the finger and he'd die._

"_What the!" His swears were cut off as I tightened my grip around the much larger man. He struggled but I struggled harder and brought him to his knees. I could feel my arm crushing his throat as he gasped for air, he turned to me, eyes wide and I smirked before I whispered his answer into his ear._

_His dull brown eyes widened in fear as he grasped my arm, nails biting into my pale skin. I could feel the dull sensation of blood dripping down my arm now. I stared as his eyes filled with water, as if trying to buy himself a sympathy vote. I lost my sympathy ages ago. My arm loosened a tad, letting him speak his last words. He surprised me, though, as he whispered softly, in a harsh and chocked voice, _

"_Arigatou__, Kikyo." And then, I pulled the trigger._

_

* * *

_

What's the meaning to life? Well, I guess you'll have to _ask_ me that, won't you? Of course, only if you're willing to pay my price.

I have never stumbled onto a question I could _not_ answer. I have never given false information to any client and they all know the consequences to asking a question from me. They knew they were facing death.

I have never lied, or not given information. I am truthful and never false. I merely grant one last wish to those who wish to die.

* * *

"_You know what the price is, don't you?" I asked the young man to my right. He had short dyed blonde hair, spiked up a bit and two piercings on either side of his lips. His eyes were a soft innocent brown, darting back and forth as his twiddled his fingers. He was tall for his age. He was only eighteen, I believe._

"_Yes…" I nodded my head, and walked away from the nervous wreck of a boy._

* * *

_I watched with cool eyes as the woman in front of me ragged on and on about the subject at hand and suppressed a growl of disgust. She was pathetic. She was disgusting. I couldn't believe I was wasting my time on such a ridiculous woman. But I had a job to do. I had a mission to fulfill and a question to answer._

_As soon as my information was gathered, I left, without a word and to never return. I was done, and now, it was time to take my payment._

_

* * *

_

"_She never wanted you." I whispered to the young boy. His hair was now a midnight black and he was playing with his fingers still. I looked into his eyes and he smiled sadly at me, leaning back and stretching his arms over his head, he slowly lowered them back into his pockets. His lips playing with his piercings._

_He shifted from foot to foot, looking down at his black converse before he looked back up at me._

"_I had a feeling…guess my mom never really liked kids…" He teased, but I could hear his heart breaking even from my distance. I nodded my head, feeling very little for the young teen as I took out my silver hand gun and aimed it at his head, the words that he whispered still clear as rain in my ears._

"_Arigatou__, Kikyo."_

_And then, he fell to the ground, dead._

_

* * *

_

Kyo Nakamura was a good kid. He got good grades, a steady girlfriend and a happy adopted family. He came to me at the age of eighteen, asking one question and one question only.

"_Did my birth mom ever love me?"_

I followed his mom and started up conversations with her at the grocery store we seemed to shop at together every Sunday for three weeks. The woman was a bitch. She didn't care about anyone and she even knew Kyo…she lived a block away from him. She had seen him grow up and still, she called him nothing but "Brat."

People made me sick.

* * *

"_If I do not get a nice sum of money by Thursday, Kimi Hamayashi is dead. Mark my words. " I murmured into the phone. I looked over to the cute, young spunky girl with her pigtails and school uniform on; swinging her legs back and forth of the chair she was sitting in. I hung up on her parents immediately._

"_Are you sure about this, Kimi?" It was my job to ask. I didn't care whether or not I had to take her life, truth was, if she had said no, I'd still have to kill her, she had seen my face and knew my business and therefore was a threat. I was very calculated in my job and took nothing for granted. I took everything into consideration, how else do you think I kept away from the cops for such a long time?_

"_Yes, Ms. Kikyo." She smiled to me politely. I looked over her small stature, and turned away, walking into the kitchen. Kimi wanted to know if anyone loved her enough to give anyone any amount of cash. Her parents were rich sons of bitches, and for her whole life, they had always taken money over their own daughter. She was always second to cash._

_I didn't contemplate on that for long as I started to make us something to eat._

_---Thursday---_

"_How much money, Ms. Kikyo?" Kimi asked, her bright green eyes bearing into the depths of my heart. Or at least what was left of it. I looked over the wad of cash in my hands. I counted once more to make sure that the sum was right and then looked over to Kimi, her hair still up in adorable pigtails. I stared at her before pulling out my silver handgun just as before. I aimed it between her bright green eyes. _

_She still smiled up at me._

"_Three mill." I whispered. I watched her smile grow before she shut her eyes, whispering back in her soft young voice, full of happiness now,_

"_Arigatou_,_ Kikyo."_

_Then I left a hole in the young girls head._

_

* * *

_

I've killed countless of people in my lifetime. All had received the answers to the questions they asked, but only one client, only _one person_ ever made me feel as if I had done wrong, as if I was damned. Only one client reminded me that, too, was human. And that I had a beating heart.

Her name?

Kagome Higurashi.

The bright blue eyed, black haired girl was able to make me shed tears. I had known her for a while, the young woman who lived next to me. I thought she was oblivious to my job. She taught me otherwise on the anniversary of our two months of knowing each other.

* * *

"_Kikyo! I brought some drinks! Come to the roof!" Kagome yelled from the door. I smiled and sighed heavily. Kagome was my only friend; though we talked rarely she was a nice girl. She was in her second year of college, had a great part time job and everyone loved her in our apartment building. She was also dating a man named InuYasha for five years and I knew she was happily in love. _

"_Why're we on the roof?" I asked, looking over to her. She laid out a blanket and some beers on the roof top of our apartment. I smiled at her genuine gestures of friendship. She was only the best friend and person anyone could meet. She cared about everyone and gave her heart out to those who were in pain._

_Kagome Higurashi was an angel that happened to be on earth, touching people's souls and helping others find their way. Though I felt rarely anything for anyone, Kagome Higurashi was the exception. She might not be a person I associated with regularly, and we only knew each other for two months, but there was something about her that made you want to love her._

_We sat on the roof top for near hours before we sat in a comfortable silence, looking up into the stars above us. Kagome and I didn't know much about each other, besides the shallow conversation everyone has, but my heart tugged after the young girl. Kagome made you love her, after all. I heard her shift before her voice broke through._

"_Kikyo…how many people have you killed?" Shock registered first. My heart actually started pumping a mile a minute as my body tensed. I turned my brown eyes and saw her baby blues peering into me. Had I heard right? Was Kagome, asking how many lives I had taken?_

"_How…did you…?" I couldn't ask. How could she have known? How was she not afraid? How was I so careless as to have a naive younger girl stumble onto my secret?_

"_I'm much smarter then you give me credit for, Kikyo!" She laughed and looked back up to the sky. Leave it to Kagome to be perfectly calm while lying next to Japan's number one killer. I watched her as she lay relaxed beside me, the stars and moon lighting our silhouettes._

"_Can I ask a question?" She asked. I would have teased her about already have doing that if I had not thought about her words. I shook my head instantly._

"_What? No. Kagome do not ask me any questions. Never." I sat up straight, looking into her young face. She smiled sadly, sitting up and taking my paler hands into her own. She kissed each knuckle before I felt warm drops of water on my skin. I looked into her eyes and saw the tears rushing passed her eye lids._

"_I have cancer."_

_And my world started to spin. Why would Kami take away Kagome Higurashi's life? I couldn't grasp that fate was this cruel as I looked at the sobbing young girl in front of me. Kagome was only twenty-two; she was a brilliant, vibrant beautiful young girl, full of life. She could do so much with her life. She could change the world with just one look if she wanted to. So then, why would someone take her life away? _

_Kagome…She was probably terrified._

_I watched her small body shake with sobs as she tried to silence the soft cries that escaped passed her lips. Her black tresses falling like water over her shoulders. She looked so broken, the once strong warrior I has seen giving love out to people in need was now broken and there was no way to fix her…_

_I felt my eyes sting. I had never cried in the face of death. My mother died when I was only six and I hadn't shed a tear. My father died when I was thirteen and I had no tears for him. I never cried. I never felt. So then, what was this pain shooting in my heart?_

"_Ask."_

_She smiled sadly at me, her tears sliding down her cheeks as she gripped my hands tighter in her own. Her beautiful face glowing under the moons light, her small frame shaking a bit as she tried to control her sobs._

"_Will…InuYasha be able to live…without me?"_

_And now I understood. Kagome wasn't scared of dying. She was scared of leaving InuYasha._

_I looked into her eyes before I pulled her forward and wrapped my arms around her, kissing her temple gently and for the first time in my life, lovingly._

_For her, I would find an answer._

_

* * *

_

"_InuYasha! Stop it! If you touch my drink one more time…" I heard Kagome threaten the young man. I peered over a bit and smiled. Kagome was holding a small cup of what I assumed to be coffee as InuYasha had his arms around her from behind._

"_Awe, come on!" I watched as the taller silver haired man leaned down and kissed her cheek. They were a cute couple, I admitted. The man was tall, with piercing gold eyes and black eyebrows; he had a sharp jaw and strong build. He would be what normal people called intimidating had he not been smiling and kissing Kagome. I couldn't help but feel the unfamiliar ache in my heart as I watched him kiss Kagome and as she laughed and held him tightly._

"_I love you Kagome." I felt the pain in my heart again._

"_I love you too, InuYasha." And again._

_

* * *

_

"_I love you, Kagome, forever and always babe." I heard InuYasha say into his phone. It had been nearly a month now since Kagome asked her question. I had witnessed them argue and fight, but more often then not, I had witnessed their love. I watched as InuYasha laughed and sighed, teasing Kagome. InuYasha pouted a bit as he whispered a soft good bye and another I love you before he turned down the street and walked into a flower shop, probably getting Kagome flowers. _

_I had been avoiding answering Kagome, though I had known the answer as soon as I had seen them together. InuYasha was quite a strange fellow. He was stubborn and had a foul mouth. He fought a lot and with pride. Though he said stupid things at the wrong times, he was quite intelligent._

_Kagome and he were almost polar opposites, yet when they were together, they were so much in love, it almost broke me apart. Just watching him hold her, and her smile at him was enough to bring Kami don to his knees. No one could deny what they had. I sighed as InuYasha came out with a bouquet of roses. It was time Kagome knew her answer._

_

* * *

_

"_I see…" She whispered into the dead silence. She had just gotten back from her date with InuYasha. I couldn't help but wonder if she understood what she would be doing. I knew she was going to die, whether by my hand or by Kamis', but shouldn't she have told InuYasha? Shouldn't she have given him a proper goodbye?_

_Didn't she love him enough to do that for him?_

_I looked back into her blue eyes, staring blankly at the wall across from me and I knew. She loved him too much. She didn't want him to hurt. She wanted the time they had left to be all about love and not about worrying. She wanted their last moments to be happy._

_I pulled out my gun, pointing it to her head. I watched with tearful eyes before I lowered my gun to her heart. I felt salt water tears spill over my cheeks as I looked into her bright blue eyes. She smiled at me sadly, and I felt my heart break. My finger shakingly touched the burning trigger. _

"_Arigatou__ …InuYasha." Just like that…She had broken the chain of words that everyone uttered, because to her…InuYasha was the most important thing and the only thing on her mind in her last moments._

_I killed Kagome Higurashi that night._

_

* * *

_

That was nearly two years ago. And to this very day, I knew InuYasha was following me. That's right. He was trying to find me, to avenge his love's death. If only he knew the truth, then maybe he wouldn't have put me in this situation.

I stared at the clock, waiting for my time to chime in, my heart leaving dull beats to keep me alive. Over the last two years, I had wondered greatly, what Kagome would be doing at every moment of every day. I didn't think much of it as I thought back to my own life.

I had taken so many lives. So many people died with a bullet to the head. I killed them. All of them.

I heard the clock chime twelve and looked up at the ticking hands. I took a deep breath before I got up from my chair, picking my silver signature gun from the glass coffee table in front of me and holding it tightly in my hand as I left the apartment.

I walked for probably an hour, ending up in an old alleyway leading to the heart of Tokyo city before I stopped. The walls were littered with almost unreadable signatures written in spray paint of different colors, the ground was littered with garbage and papers.

The ground was wet, having just recently been rained on. I looked up at the moon, the only source of light in the area as I stood still, listening with trained ears as I heard footsteps coming closer.

Tonight was the night.

"Hello, InuYasha." I whispered as I kept my hand controlled on my gun. I turned around now, facing the man. He had changed quite a bit. His hair was longer now, still platinum silver, his eyes darker, his face had matured quite nicely and he was a lot more built then I remembered.

He growled at me, a gun in his right hand. I took a calculated look of his stature, and whipped my gun out, aiming it for his head. As I did, he did the same, aiming at my head. We stood looking at each other, breathing quiet.

We watched each other for at least an hour. I could see the rage in his eyes burning me just barely. I closed my eyes for a second. Tonight…one of us had to die. And I knew it wouldn't be me.

I opened my eyes to see tears fill his eyes. He was thinking of Kagome again. I had watched him for the past two years. Every night he cried, whispering her name. I started to feel the pain he felt now. I understood his hate for me. I understood his pain.

I held the trigger tightly as I looked at him once more, this time his arm was shaking as he looked at me. I wanted to drop my gun, to tell him to forget about all of this, but I knew that wasn't how things were going to go.

I watched as his stature shook with tears. His pain was hitting me harder then any bullet could. I watched as he held the gun with shaking hands, aimed at my head. I wondered if Kagome was watching? Was she crying to?

Before my mind could register, a shot sounded, I was lucky it missed but my reflexes got the better of me as I shot my own gun, hitting right into his stomach. I watched in horror and shock as he fell to his knees and then lay on the ground.

I watched his body convulse on the ground, his silver hair like a fan around his body. The blood slowly seeping through his clothes, staining the ground in crimson. I walked over to him slowly, looking down into his unfocused gold eyes. He let a small smile land on his lips as blood spilled from the corners slowly making their way to the ground.

"W-What was…her question…?" He asked. I see he finally understood my job. I bent down now, sitting beside his dying body, bringing my knees to my chest, the gun loose in my right hand and I looked up to the moon, his body shaking beside me.

"She asked me if you could live without her." I looked back down and watched as he closed his eyes; blood still pouring form the side of his mouth as tears leaked passed his eyes. I watched in only a dull pain as he cried.

"And…the answer?" He asked with a small laugh of irony. I smiled back at him sadly, taking my pale hand and brushing his silver bangs from his eyes dulling golden eyes, seeing my own reflection within the depths of his peering orbs.

"No." I stated simply. I watched as he closed his eyes, waiting for his breath to slowly stop, but was again surprised as his bloody hand grabbed my wrist, his eyes shot opened and he stared desperately at me. Blood and tears staining his beautiful face.

"I have…a question…" He gasped out. I stared at him for a moment, and then nodded my head, partly from curiosity and partly from guilt.

Curiosity as to what he would want to know.

Guilt, because I was already the reason he was dying.

"Will I…see Kagome?" He smiled a bit. I looked into his eyes and for the first time in my whole life. I wasn't really sure. I was asked this once before, by a small child of only seven, named Mitzuki. She asked if she would see her mom and dad ever again in heaven. I said yes. Because I knew she would. But now I wasn't sure.

If there was truly a God, Kagome wouldn't be dead right now. If there was really a God, I wouldn't have been born to kill all these people.

I looked back to InuYasha, whose breathing was now more labored then before, whose eyes still bled tears of sorrow and whose heart pleaded with hope. I gripped my silver gun and then placed it to his heart, just as I had to Kagome, and held the trigger.

"Yes." I whispered and waited for him to utter the words I knew he would.

"Arigatou …Kagome…" And then, I pulled back the trigger.

The only sound that moment was InuYasha's words being echoed off the alley walls and the sound of my gun shooting, twice.

-

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A/N: I bet you guys all my imaginary money that none of you understood the whole "Shot twice" thing.

I love this story, though it's poorly written compared to my other stories, but I enjoy the idea greatly, I thought it was pretty original! Anyways, I hope you guys enjoyed reading this!

Take care,

Vixen


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